


After Party

by undernightlight



Series: Deep Dish Nine [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pizza Place, DD9 AU, Deep Dish Nine, gotta love this au, introduction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 07:49:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15190148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undernightlight/pseuds/undernightlight
Summary: [Deep Dish Nine AU]  Kira opens up the shop on a normal day.An introduction to my DD9 AU.





	After Party

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo, I have DS9 stuff now, and I had fun writing this. It's one of my favourite AUs in Star Trek, and I had so much fun making it my own. For everyone that doesn't know, Deep Dish 9 is an AU set in a pizza shop where everyone is human and everyone is alive.
> 
> Enjoy!

Kira, as patiently as she could, waited for the metal cover to rise so she could open up the shop. The others would be here soon, except for Sisko as he was at his son’s baseball game until two; the team was doing well in baseball this year and Ben wasn’t missing this game for the world, even if that meant he got to work late.

Kira unlocked the door and pushed it open as she heard the distinct, choking sound of that stupid delivery scooter. There must be something wrong with it, she thought, I swear it never used to make that sound. She waited, her foot in the door, and seconds later, Julian appeared with helmet hair and a smile.

“Thanks Major,” he said, and slide into the building. A nickname was originally to be cruel, a dig at her strict, take no bullshit attitude, but she adopted it and was very proud of it, and now everyone called her major; she liked it that way. Julian flipped the light switch on his way passed, and the bright, overhead lights flicked into life. He set his helmet on the small table in back and grabbed his cap off his hook, before wriggling out of his denim jacket and hanging it up in place. His old hi-top converse squeaked against the tiled floor.

He seemed in a very good mood this morning, Kira thought, but when was he not? He was probably the most positive of the team, despite working this job to pay for medical school, because his parents would only pay so much. He didn’t seem to mind, even if he worked most days as well as attending classes; he never seemed to stop. That was probably why Janeway liked him so much; he was a regular patron there because the boy ran off caffeine.

Kira unlocked the till for the day as Julian started up the ovens. Miles came in then, their beloved Chief, their always-kept-busy mechanic. His was another nickname fully embraced and even his cap had it stitched on. The staff’s faces was priceless, he thought, when he showed off the beautiful stitching in black on the white, rectangular patch made by his wonderful girlfriend, Keiko; he was smug for a good week. He grabbed said cap from his hook, before Julian’s head popped around the corner.

“Oh Chief, good, I was hoping it was you, the coffee makers broken.”

“Again? What did you do this time?”

“Nothing, nothing,” he said, proclaiming his innocence, “Will you just take a look please, I haven't had any coffee yet.” Miles debated it. He’d only been in the building less than twenty second, probably less than ten, and he was already given a job. And it was Julian. But he could get incredible cranky when he hadn’t had his hourly dose of caffeine, and he became easily agitated and unnecessarily aggressive too, which made him just intolerable. But he could be equally intolerable with the coffee, so Miles caved, with a strong eye roll, and agreed to take a look. Julian gave a smile and a thanks in response.

Kira was setting out cutlery to the tables in the building, the few they had, when Ezri and Jadzia walked in, laughing and smiling as they did so. The two youngest of the Dax clan, separated by five years, they were incredibly close and very friendly people.

“Good morning,” Kira said with a smile; she was kindest to those two, and they both turned to her.

“Morning Major,” Jadzia said, taking off her jacket while Ezri took off her backpack, which made a loud thud as it places ungracefully on the counter.

“How many textbooks you got in there?” Kira asked.

“Just two, but the big ones.” Another student, pushing her way through her psychology degree. She only studied part time, but that suited her better, and it gave her plenty of time to work at the pizza shop with her sister.

They hung up their belonging on their pegs, shouting hi to the boys in the back. Julian shouted a hello back, followed by a groan and a possible greeting which must’ve been from the Chief, his cap missing from his peg already. The two joined Kira in setting up the tables, Ezri sorting out the music for the day, picking a playlist and hitting shuffle. And they continued setting everything up. A few songs in Kira asked:

“What playlist is this?”

“Called ‘Girl Empowerment’.”

“Good playlist, brilliant name,” Jadzia said.

Soon, Worf came in, latest as usual, and Jadzia hopped, skipped and jumped over to him, just to lightly kiss his cheek. His face remained as stoic as ever, despite leaning into the touch slightly, easy to miss if you didn’t know Worf. But everyone at Deep Dish 9 knew Worf well by now, despite being with the company the shortest, if you exclude Ezri, since she was well know before she officially worked there. Worf had just returned from visiting his son, who lived with his mom outside the city, and he’d been away for the last week. Jadzia was happy to have her boyfriend back at work.

Fifteen minutes before opening and everyone was in. Julian appeared from the back room, a travel mug in his hand, and he hoisted himself up onto the main counting before taking a large gulp from the mug, followed by a rather tired looking Chief.

“Coffee maker working?” Kira asked.

“Yes,” Julian said with a bit too much excitement and light in his eyes, dragging out the word longer than necessary. He took another drink, then let out a sigh of relief. “You, Chief, are a miracle worker.”

“Just keep your hands off the machine and I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I didn’t break it to begin with.” The argument would most likely continue throughout the day. Ezri walked to Julian and carefully swept him off of the counter, though he didn’t seem to mind, and instead sat on one of the stools, smiling away and drinking his coffee. The young Dax wiped down where he’d sat, before walking around the counter. She pressed a button under the counter and the neon sign in the window lit up, bright red letters O P E N in a glowing blue ring. And the work day began.

Customers came from the get go, ordering their slices or full pizzas for eat in or take out. The phone would ring and Ezri or Jadzia would answer, write down the order, before clipping the little slip of paper with the address to the spinning wheel in the open window between the front and the kitchen, and Worf, or whoever was cooking, would wipe up a pizza, kneading the dough and spreading sauce and sprinkling toppings. The pizza would be placed a box, the sheet of paper stapled to the top, then taken by Julian out the door to the affectionately names Shuttlepod 1 delivery scooter, and he’d be off down the street.

Said med student was out on delivery when the tailor next door popped across. The staff all knew Garak, and knew him to be a bit strange at the best of times, but polite and well mannered, though not regularly ordering. He was always after talking to Julian Bashir, and it was plain as day he was clearly interested in the young man, all to Julian of course, who found him unusual but a good conversationalist.

“Is the delivery boy in?” He asked Jadzia at the counter, and she shook her head.

“Out on deliveries right now, but I can tell him you stopped by,” she offered.

“No, that’s quite alright, just hand these to him when you next see him.” Garak passed across two books to Jadzia, before politely smiling and leaving. She looked at the books, neither she recognised, not that she assumed she would, before sticking them under the counter to give to Julian upon his return.

He returned shortly, his hair a mess again, but still smiling, and he was making a beeline for the coffee maker in the back when Jadzia stopped him, pushing the two books into his chest. That earned a very confused expression from the student, and he just looked at her for an explanation.

“Garak next door dropped them off for you while you were out.”

Julian looked down to the books, before a small smile spread across his face. “Ah yes, finally.” And then Jadzia was confused, so he elaborated. “I leant him this book,” and he held up the one with the worn down cover and slightly curled pages, “And he said he’d give me one of his to read in return,” and he held up the other, in much better condition than his own.

“Already at the stage of book sharing are we?” Which earned an eye roll.

“It’s not like that, he’s not flirting with me, but book sharing, yes. He seems to disagree on many of my opinions, and I his, so we decided if we swapped books, then maybe we’d change each other’s minds.”

“I don’t know, sounds like flirting to me,” Jadzia teased, pinning another piece of paper to the spinning carousel of pizza orders.

“You’re just jealous you missed out on this,” and he motioned a hand down his body, raising his eyebrows with a smile. He got along well with the youngest two of the Dax clan, with a previous crush on Jadzia, now outgrowth and instead a wonderful, light hearted friendship, and a shared university campus with Ezri, which soon became lunches together when their schedules didn’t clash. They were like family to him, but then again, so was everyone here.

“Ah yes, that must be the answer. Is that also why everybody else know that Mr Garak is flirting with you too?”

“Must be.” Julian shuffled away, setting the books on the small shelf above the pegs, before finally making it to the coffee machine, but his hand was slapped before he could touch anything. When he looked to the attacker, Miles stood next to him, a flat expression on his face.

“I said, don’t touch the coffee maker.”

“Well how else am I supposed to get coffee?” The Chief then handed Julian his travel mug, the one with his university logo on the front, forcing it into the med student’s hand, before walking off. Julian could tell it was full, it was heavy, and he took a sip. Coffee with milk and sugar, how he drank it. A smile made its way onto his face. “Thanks Chief,” he called. Miles had already walked off, and he wasn’t in Julian’s line of sight, but he hoped he heard anyway. The Chief was round the corner, crossing out tasks on the whiteboard with his black marker pen, and he couldn’t help but smile at Julian’s declaration of appreciation. Somedays, Miles thought, he’s not actually that back.

A ding signalled to Julian that he should get back on the job, picking up two pizza boxes on the counter and looking at the addresses stapled on top, before heading out front and out the door, his travel mug still in his hand. He slid the two boxes into the bag before revving off down the street. He delivered the pizzas, one a regular from uptown, and he was very appreciative of the tip, before heading back to the shop.

He was on lunch break when he got back, along with Miles and Ezri, and the three sat at the counter stools, eating two slices each. Ezri found the free pizza lunches were one of the best things about the job, that and making such good friends. She was the youngest employee by three years, the next one Julian, but she’d really found family here. Yes, her sister did work there, but she’d become so close to everyone else.

Kira was stubborn but understanding, and was always willing to help her out if need be, and always offered a kind smile when she was feeling down. Miles could be a truly grumpy man, but he was funny, made her laugh, and he was able to fix anything, which really saved her laptop more than once. Julian was incredibly friendly, this figure of confidence, but they’d spend nights on campus together, drinking or studying, and she’d found he was incredibly insecure in nearly every way. Worf, her lovely sister’s boyfriend, was rough around the edges, but she saw an affectionate side to him, and he was loyal to those he cared about, to the end. Even her boss, Benjamin Sisko was a friend more than a superior, willing to give his employee personal advice if they asked, and went out with them for drinks too, something some leading managers wouldn’t dream off.

Ezri thought this was why they all worked so well together, because they were family

She felt a nudge on her shoulder and looked up, only realising then she’d drifted out of the conversation, and that she had a slice of pizza still attached to her mouth. “Are you listening Ezri?” Julian’s voice rang, eyebrows brought down in the middle.

“Sorry, no, what were you saying?”

“We were saying,” and his voice dropped in volume, “How long do you think it’ll be until the Major and the Constable finally...you know, get together?” She followed Julian’s eye line to the two in question talking by one of the unoccupied tables. The affectionately named Constable, was Odo, a police officer who was a regular at Deep Dish 9. They all first met him when he was a constable in the police, but had since moved up to Sergeant Odo, though the nickname stuck. He begrudgingly accepted that it wouldn’t change, and now embraced it.

“Depends who makes the first move,” she replied, in the same hushed tone.

“I think it will be soon.”

“No,” Miles weighed in, “These two are either hoping the other makes the first move, or are completely oblivious.”

“They can’t be oblivious, surely not.”

“You never know.”

“Hmm,” Julian and Ezri seemed to hum.

“I do not pay you people to stand around gossiping.” All head out front turned to the voice, seeing Ben Sisko in the doorway with hands on his son’s shoulders. “I don’t believe I pay you at all Constable,” he added. His face was stern, but his tone gave away the joke.

“How the game go Benjamin?” Jadzia asked from behind the counter, leaning over to see past the three on their lunch break. Ben then broke into a smile, shaking his boy’s shoulders.

“We won!” And the shop erupted into cheers, everyone walking out from the kitchen or the counter to congratulate Jake on his win. “He scored two home runs, best damn batter out there,” he boasted, so proud of his son and the hard work he’d put in; Jake put in so many extra hours at the batting cages this season, so much extra time out with his dad practicing, and it clearly paid off. “Since Quark’s nephew is also on the team, Quard so kindly let us use his place for a little celebratory party.” Cheers again, and those sat down then stood up, but Benjamin interrupted their excitement, “After work, of course.” Quiet groans sounded, and Miles, Julian and Ezri sat back in their seats. “So get to work.”

Everyone shuffled about, the Constable sliding out the door, and the lunch break trio practically inhaled the rest of their food before getting back to their respective jobs. Julian was handed a full travel mug of coffee before he could get close to the machine, by the Chief of course, and they exchanged smiles, the student’s reaching slightly higher, but both genuine nonetheless.

The work day continued to pass, all employees working efficiently and all customers being considerate. There was no hassle from those Dominion’s Pizza employees or from some self-seeking church people, and soon the work day was over.

Julian was talking with Ezri, hanging up their caps and grabbing their jacket and backpack respectively, before heading out the door, followed by Jadzia and Worf, arms linked much to his dismay. Kira invited the Constable to join them, an invitation he was happy to accept, most likely to spend time with her over the rest of the staff, but it also allowed him to keep an eye on Quark to which he had a strong distrusting. He met up with them outside, and walked with Kira to the bar and gambling establishment. Miles filed out, making sure the coffee maker was still working and turned off before he left. Ben locked up, his son by his side, waiting as the shutter came down over the front.

“Dad,” Jake said, looking up, “can I have a cake? Since I did so well in the game.”

“Of course son, and we’ll make sure it’s the same shape as a baseball.”

**Author's Note:**

> I plan on writing more, some shorter than others, some longer, so let me know what you thought ^_^


End file.
